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Tír na nÓg
Tír na nÓg is a Tír Nation that covers the entire national territory of former Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is the most well-known and most financially independent elven nation. In parts of the country, a third of the population is elven. This comes on the one hand by elvish immigrants, however in the Tír na nÓg there is also an unusually high number of elven children born. Tír na nÓg''' '''is nominally a democracy but is strictly maintained by transitory citizenship and aristocratic rule of the Danaan families. The Danaan mór, the most powerful families, occupy the Seelie Court, an elven-aspected astral metaplane that acts as a spiritual authority for the Tir Nations. History The roots of Tír na nÓg are in Éire, the (in Shadowrun) commonly used Gaelic term for the now defunct state of Ireland. Ireland became a free nation in 1922 at the end of a long civil war, the country still divided between loyalist north and republican south. Throughout the 20th century the populist political party Fianna Fáil and the market liberal party Fine Gael waged bureaucratic war on one another, as the common people devolved into etho-nationalist conflict during a period of sporadic violence known as The Troubles. Conflict between the violent proprietors of each side continued until the Awakening of the sixth world which began in late 2011. The Awakening brought suffering like that of the VITAS plague which killed 22% of Ireland's population, but more appalling than the disasters were the sudden appearance of the Fomori in Connacht, and the mass transformation of fertile farmland in Munster to large swaths of peatland. Soon after came the elves, 41% of all births in Ireland from 2010 to 2020. On September 2011 the Pope John Paul IV denounced metahumans as abominations in the eyes of God, a decree which was soundly rejected by Ireland. The once devoutly Catholic Ireland became more and more distrusting of the Church and softened the religious elements of republican/loyalist conflict. Within the next three years, sympathies for the old United Kingdom arose among the Ulster Protestants and Irish emigrants on the British mainland. The Aldershot elemental strike of 2013 spurred a referendum in Great Britain concerning the future of Eire. To keep a hold on power, the new Labour government had kept itself on good terms with the Liberal party, which demanded that the government "consult the people" via referendum regularly as the price of it's support. The Conservative party opposed the referendum, which cost them 78% of their election seats. The referendum went through, and a rowdy House of Commons passed the Act of Dissolution, creating the Free Republic of Ireland. In response, Protestant loyalists perpetrated a terrorist campaign against the new Irish Free State. In 2020, a Derry Loyalist, Liam O'Connor, likely the first born elf in Eire (born in 1996, 16 years before the awakening), publicly spoke out about the Protestant IRA, which was a noticeably anti-elven organization. As a result most of the protestant elves with radical aspirations made their way out of the IRA, beginning a major schism among loyalist radicals. As a result, the Dublin government negotiated directly with Liam O'Connor's new provisional Protestant group and used his immense knowledge of terrorist organizations throughout Ireland to create a paramilitary counter-insurgeist group known as the Sinn Fein, which became the basis for the Tir Republican Corps. In return for his immense help, the Irish government passed Sinn Fein-approved policy changes, including stiff environmental changes, metahuman equality legislation, and governmental subsidizing of hermetic programs. Between 2020 and 2034 a series of scandals rocked Ireland, most of which were leaked to the public because Liam O'Connor and the Sinn Fein now had access to almost any area of sensitive information gathering throughout Ireland. Liam O'Connor and an upcoming politician Seamus O'Kennedy used this information to cast doubt on the efficiency of the Irish government. In 2040 the Irish President Charles McGoldrick was impeached after he was found to have hired mercenaries in an attempt to whittle away his political opponents. Seamus O'Kennedy made demands for a total retooling of the Irish political system. In October of that year, Liam O'Connor was given total military control over Ireland during a state of emergency where the Irish parliament attempted to remake their nation. What resulted was a mass deportation of the primarily human Fianna Fáil party. By the end of the year, Ireland succeeded Tir Tairngire as the second Tir Nation. In 2047, Liam O'Connor married an actress going by the name of Brane Deigh. Two years later, he disappeared without a trace and was never seen again. Lady Braine Deigh appointed herself head of the Seelie Court in his absence. Government and Relations Tír na nÓg is divided into five provinces: Ulster in the north, Leinster in the east, Munster in the south, Connacht in the west, and Meath, which surrounds Dublin and extends close to the center of the country. There are 31 counties, and the government is heavily centralized, with money being distributed carefully by the Dublin Treasury. The Garda are the civil police of Tír na nÓg. They are managed as a subsection of the Tir Republican Corps (TRC), a federal agency that functions as something like a cross between the American CIA and FBI. The TRC functions independently from (but works closely with) the Defense Department, a subsection of organizations like the Central Crime Registry, the Social Benefit Protection Services, Interior Affairs, and Environmental Regulation Services. Both departments work together to manage the Tir Army, a tiny force of 4,500 soldiers. The law is very anti-citizen in Tír na nÓg and very strict weapon regulations apply. Tír na nÓg also has very rigid environmental laws, and even "cultural laws" where it is illegal to dismiss or berate certain parts of Irish history that have been appropriated as that of Tir history. On the other hand, corporate extraterritoriality, which applies almost worldwide in Shadowrun, does not apply in Tír na nÓg, because they do not abide by the Business Aquisition Records which provide due process for corporate sovereignty in the rest of the world. As such, very few major corporations can be found in Tír na nÓg. Cirollar Draesis Cirollar Draesis ('Path of the Wheel' in Sperethiel) is a religion that was born around the same time that the Catholic Church began to lose favor in Ireland. It is a religion by and for elves that describes the human races as souls moving around a wheel through which elven souls have the highest potency and the unique ability to reincarnate. As the soul reincarnates after an elf dies, it ascends to the next turn of the wheel, whatever that may be. By living life among a caste-like system known as 'Paths' or 'Ways', an elf can potentially strengthen their soul to the point where they are eventually born as a Rí ('King') and become immortal at the exact center of the wheel. The Cirollar Draesis religion is practiced by all of the Danaan Families and is thus a major driving force of all Tír na nÓg's policies and industries. The five provinces of Tír na nÓg all have a Way corresponding to the birth of a magical elven child within those regions. The followers of these paths all have important roles in Tir society. Warriors are most often military or policemen, Stewards are businessmen or politicians, Bards are musicians and environmentalists, and Druids archive magic and perform complex subsistence farming techniques. The Veil The Veil is a magical force field surrounding Tír na nÓg on all sides. It can be seen on all of Tír na nÓg's coasts, extending 12-18 meters off of the coastline, visibly reaching heights of twenty meters. Contact with the Veil will usually only result in the effects of a high-force Confusion spell deterring the intruder. However, dual-natured individuals will begin to evaporate upon touching the veil, preventing intrusions from creatures such as dragons and the infected. It is one of the widest reaching magical phenomena in the sixth world and it's effects cannot be reduced or dispelled. It usually appears as colored rain falling backwards from the ocean into the sky, accompanied by dancing lights. In 2061, Haley's Comet flew over the Earth and heavily disrupted the Veil. This has made the Veil especially vulnerable to manastorms, which create havoc on Tír na nÓg's coastlines and further wear away at the Veil. There are now gaps in the Veil that even amateurs at astral combat can identify. In The Campaign Tír na nÓg is the setting for Part 2 and the most fleshed out setting in the campaign. The runners are sent there on behalf of Transys and Ares to kill the 'elven Nosferatu', Balanar. As neither Transys or Ares have the power or legality to interfere in Tír na nÓg's state of emergency, they relied on the runners to further their agenda. During the course of the campaign it is revealed that Liam O'Connor constructed the Veil with the help of Cabalistica. His arm, taken as a Hand of Glory, was disenchanted by Cabalistica and confiscated by Martin Harlech, who wanted the arm's power for himself. Balanar intended to use Liam's hand to acquire the astral signature necessary to alter the Veil and make Tír na nÓg his own nation. Areas in Tír na nÓg explored in the campaign * Dublin * Glenveagh National Park * Glenveagh Castle * Derry * Ballyhornan * Downpatrick * Tara Mine * Glencar Lough